Brendan Munro Thompson, Assault on Federal Officers, California 2025

Oakland Journalist Exposes Assault on Federal Officers

Oakland, California - In a shocking turn of events, 26-year-old Brendan Munro Thompson, aka Bella Thompson and Bella Castillo, was charged with the federal crime of assaulting federal officers with a deadly or dangerous weapon by accelerating a U-Haul truck as it approached several United States Coast Guard (USCG) personnel on October 23, 2025.

According to the complaint and court documents filed on October 30, 2025, and unsealed today, on the night of October 23, USCG personnel were standing guard on the bridge connecting Coast Guard Island with Oakland. Coast Guard Base Alameda is located on Coast Guard Island, a small island on an estuary separating Alameda and Oakland, and can be accessed via the bridge.

The complaint alleges that at approximately 10:00 p.m. on October 23, Thompson drove a 10-foot-long U-Haul truck onto the eastern part of the bridge. Thompson then backed the truck onto the bridge, with its rear end facing toward Coast Guard Island. Several USCG personnel were positioned in a line across the bridge.

As the truck reversed towards the USCG personnel, they backed away toward a USCG law enforcement vehicle parked on the bridge. The truck stopped and started several times and then accelerated rapidly backward towards the USCG personnel. When the driver did not stop and continued to rapidly accelerate backward toward the line of USCG personnel, USCG personnel defensively fired their weapons at the U-Haul truck.

Thompson drove away in the U-Haul and later received medical treatment for a non-life-threatening gunshot injury sustained during the incident.

Brendan Munro Thompson, aka Bella Thompson and Bella Castillo, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the count of assault on a federal officer with a deadly or dangerous weapon in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 111(b) if convicted.

Thompson will next appear in federal district court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Kandis A. Westmore for a status on detention and preliminary hearing on November 10, 2025.

A criminal complaint merely alleges that crimes have been committed, and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndca/pr/individual-charged-assault-federal-officers-accelerating-u-haul-truck-toward-coast